


Blue skies and comets of gold

by Auseil



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Synesthesia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-11-14 18:50:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11214102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Auseil/pseuds/Auseil
Summary: Au- Present Time. Yondu Udonta, is the proud (even though he is not going to admit it) father of two teenagers and one adorable little boy that he tries to raise as best as he can with the help of his nephew Kraglin and his friend Drax. On the other hand, Ayesha Sovereign is trying to come to terms with the fact that her brothers are spoiled brats that keep getting into  fights with the Udonta brothers, managing her family´s business and desperately avoiding the fact that she feels a very intriguing attraction towards the father of her brothers´s nemesis.





	1. Chapter 1

“Why?” she asked herself one more time. “Why this is happening to me?.”

Ayesha Sovereign was taking her time to reach her destination, and inside she was simmering with rage, and wanted nothing more than to buy tickets to the french Riviera, and give a piece of her mind to those responsible of her current predicament. Her parents.

The eldest heiress of the proud Sovereign family, the owners of the Sovereign Group, was driving her Mercedes with all the composure she could muster, she was doing everything almost mechanically, while internally screaming “Why? Why me?”

This year had been particularly draining in terms of work, but her golden family had managed to make her feel even more stressed than anything else. Her parents had decided to take a sabbatical year and spent it as a sort of second honey moon, traveling through Europe, they told her that she was old enough to take care of everything (which was actually what she had been doing since she graduated from college) and that means not only dealing with the family business, it meant taking care of her spoiled brothers.

It has been a tradition, apparently since generations, for the Sovereign family to stick to an unofficial motto “Everything in it´s place. And a place for everything” and her place since the very moment of her conception was to become the head of one of the most powerful and rich families of the entire country. Her parents and every single one of her most adequate and expensive tutors and professors had ingrained that in her brain since as long as she could remember, but they had failed to invest the same sense of honor and family duty among her brothers. They were as proud as only a Sovereign could be, but also completely entitled, they neglected their studies, and had spent more time in the principal´s office in that year, than in their entire lives.

At first, she put the blame in everyone else, it was the others fault, her brothers were Sovereign, they were well-behaved by nature, they could do no wrong. But now her resolved was cracking, and finally she was starting to see the things as they were. First it was the stink bomb in the locker room before the first game of the season, then it was the time that everything seemed to be a conspiracy set against them, like when the alarms went off every time Ben was rehearsing with the theater group, the viruses and bugs appearing and disappearing from Zylak ´s computer, his homework that was mysteriously replaced by some sort of adult entertainment that dealt with people dressed up as animals or something like that, and so on.

And every time, the boys said the same thing. “The Udonta kids did it”, but except for a couple of occasions when actual punches had been involved, the brothers Udonta where nowhere near to be seen. And every single time, she had ended up taking her brothers´ side, defending them against principal Rael, the teachers and Yondu Udonta himself.

“They don't know their places” and “they are rude and uneducated, they shouldn't be here” she had said once, barely elevating her voice in front of Rael. And then, he came in, dressed in dark trousers and a crimson leather jacket with an emblem that looked like something between a leaf and a flame.

He was probably 15 years her senior, had a clean-shaven head, a goatee beard and the most awful set of teeth she has ever seen. And he was blue, cobalt blue and red, like nobody she had ever seen.

The fact that Ayesha was a synesthete, was only known by a few of her family members and was always refereed as her “condition”, since an early age she had assigned people colors, and when somebody asked what she meant by that she said things like “I know he´s a calm person, of course he´s green”. Her family and her were all gold, and she had always know if their cousins had good matches because she could tell gold only goes with gold. With time, she has come to see how beneficial this was for her, she only needed a first impression to see if a person was the right one for a job. But everyone she had ever met had only one color, maybe they had shades like that girl Zylak liked, Nebula Thanos who had shades of metallic blue all over, but that was all. But not Udonta, he had this striking cobalt, with a splash of intense red. And so she couldn't really read him like she did with the others.

Blue ones were calm and good at making calculations, colder than the greens, they could have a great mind for businesses and even be ruthless, but red ones? Red ones were trouble, loud people and obnoxious, like Rocket and Peter, the bane of her brothers´ existence. Red ones sang drunkenly on a Sunday afternoon at a wedding and tried to seduce the priest even before the ceremony, and Yondu Udonta had a strike of luminous red all around him like a maddening rope made of light. Principal Rael had thought that maybe the two of them together could convinced their boys to stop the rampage of pranks and fist-fights, and talk like reasonable adults.

But no, Ayesha had remained stoic in her position, insisting that her brothers were doing nothing wrong and Udonta had laughed, but when she questioned his parenting skills he had become dead serious.

“I will wreck all kind of hells for my boys, I will kick an´ kill an´ maim. Ain't no doubt about that. But despite my lack of parentin´ skills, I did raise my boys to do something if a son of a bitch gives them a hard time. Their daddy ain't commin´ to save their asses, cause I taught them to stand up and fight, so they don't need me. That´s what a dad suppose to do.”

After that, any other time they saw each other, was a match of bickering, passive aggressive comments and threats of involving lawyers, social workers, the police, and even a professional mediator (the last suggested by principal Rael herself).

Finally, she reached the parking, only to see the now familiar red truck that Udonta usually rode, with the logo of his company, the Eclector Wrecker Service.

Ayesha prepared herself, yes they were spoiled and brats, but they were her spoiled golden brats and if someone was going to scream and rain hell upon them, that was going to be her.


	2. Chapter 2

“Eclector Wrecker Service, what can I do for you?

Kraglin had answered the phone, feeling cheerful inside. He had a good feeling about that day, a nice cup of coffee by his side, and was taking Gef place at the desk instead of being out there dealing with distressed clients and problematic situations. Until that moment. 

“Yes, I´m principal ´s Rael assistant, I'm trying to contact Mr. Udonta, but he´s not answering his phone, he needs to come to the school as soon as he can.” 

“Uh… he´s not here yet...but...”

At that precise moment, his uncle and boss entered the building. He was wearing his red jacket, slightly larger than the ones everybody else used, as to mark him as the man in charge. He did not look happy and was already complaining about some client, when he saw his nephew pointing at the phone with a look he immediately recognised.

Kraglin was a good boy, but unlike Peter who could keep a poker face when needed, old Krags was an open book, still better than Rocket though, always prone to laugh in the face of any kind of reprimands. And this particular look, Yondu knew it well, it was the “you´re gonna be mad, don´t be mad, oh shit”. 

“It´s the school.” Yondu deadpanned, as a matter of fact. 

Kraglin handed him the phone. 

“Speak” 

“No one was injured and nothing is broken. But you need to come, immediately. Principal Rael wants to talk to you and says it's urgent.” 

Her tone was almost mechanical, and suggested this was a non-negotiable situation. In all the years the boys had spent at Xandar High school, he had developed a certain respect for Michelle, Rael´s assistant. It was clear she was hired for her no-nonsense attitude, and with time she had adapted to him, going straight to the point, and the point, as usual, was that his presence was required. 

Without saying good-bye Yondu cut the communication, and went out again.  
“You boys are going to be the dead of me”, he exclaimed from the front door. 

“What did I do?” Yelled Kraglin, only to have Yondu back and angry. 

“You are always siding with them, don´t ya Kraglin? I know who helps them when they ´re grounded and I know who got them the ingredients to make that stinkin´ bomb. I also know that you drove him at night to plan that thing inside the ducts, and bein´ the scrawny little raccoon that he is that wasn't a problem for Rocket. But he needed you because Peter was also grounded and he still hasn't got his license, not that I think that would stop him. And since he´s as clever as spiteful, he put a timer on that blasted thing and made sure it was almost impossible to link him with the whole ordeal.” 

Kraglin was sweating and pale. Yes, he had bought exactly what Rocket had asked him, and had drove him to the school at night, while Peter made sure Yondu didn't realize that Rocket wasn't in his room sleeping. Or so he thought. 

“What...how did you know?” Mumbled Kraglin.

“Boy, nothing that happens under my roof goes unnoticed. If you take a shit I know the size, the smell and the color even before it comes out of yer ass.” Said Yondu, looking straight into his nephew's eyes. 

“But you didn't say anything!” 

“Because you have to stick together, that´s why. I may be raisin´ a bunch of fools, but they are my loyal and vindictive bunch of fools. Besides you all played it well and the look on Ayesha Sovereign´s face when she realized that she had to take her brothers home smelling like manure in her Mercedes was priceless.” Yondu ended laughing. 

Kraglin relaxed, but only for a moment. “But since you seem to be out for a retroactive punishment, this weekend you´ll be cleaning the office and all the vehicles! Fair´s fair boy. You need to face the consequences of your actions, always say it.” What went un-said was the other thing that his uncle used to say. “If you ´re caught.” And with that he went away. 

“Well there goes my weekend.” Thought Kraglin. 

 

When Yondu arrived at the parking lot of the most expensive High school in the whole county, he was glad for the fact that Ayesha´s car was nowhere to be seen. 

He thought that maybe that was a good sign and maybe this time Rael wanted to talk alone for once. Even though he had to admit that his ongoing feud with her was a form of entertainment, he still hated the fact that she acted as if her money and looks were enough to justify anything and the way her brothers had teased and bully his children hadn´t go unnoticed. But he also found really amusing how she was willing to engage him without backing down, unlike her parents, that appeared only for the pictures at the school events, but never met with the teachers and thought that everything was negotiable with a donation.

Even though this year had been so far the worst, Yondu had to admit that for the first time, someone was really taking care of the Sovereign brothers, although he didn´t think Ayesha was doing a particularly good job. She protected them too much, justified them in excess and was immune to critics. 

As he strolled down the corridors, he saw the students whispering. Most of the children came from wealthy families, and a few, like Rocket where there because of a scholarship, but he was paying Peter's tuition without complains, because he wanted them to have each other. He saw the school as a hostile ground, and wasn't wrong. The boys didn't have much friends, but they got each other ´s back. In his way to the principal ´s office he saw that girl he knew Peter had fancied for a while, Gamora Thanos. She and her sister were the daughters of a renowned former football player, “The Titan” Thanos. He knew the two sisters because they were about the only friends the boys got at the school. Gamora looked at him with surprise in her eyes before greeting him. 

“What´s the matter girl? Don´t say you ´re surprise to see me.”  
“Well yes, I am. Forgive me, but what happened?” She asked curiously, he thought she would be in a hurry, seeing that she was wearing her training gear and was carrying a water bottle. The girl was the captain of the fencing school team, and she seemed to be in her way for a practice. 

“What do you mean?” He asked. 

“Every thing´s been so calm, I mean when I see you here usually is because something exploded, someone is bleeding or worst. What happened?” She looked seriously concerned. Yondu was about to reply that this time he didn't have a clue, but was interrupted by a girl screaming Gamora´s name. “Sorry, I have to go, I hope everything´s alright.” 

She said and run towards her team-mate, glancing back at Yondu with a worried face. Now Yondu was intrigued. What was going on? 

When he finally arrived at his destination Michelle was behind her desk, but immediately sprung into action and offered him a coffee. She already knew he liked it black, with no sugar or milk, she also knew that he thought her coffee was the best, but for the money he was spending in at least one kid, well brewed and expensive coffee was the least he could wait. 

“Principal Rael will see you shortly, she's waiting for Miss Sovereign to arrive.”

Yondu sighed. Of course she was coming. But until that day it has been the other way around, he was the one they had to wait for. “Of course – he thought- because I can't go around losing my time or taking a leave whenever I want. Unlike her.” He sat in a couch that was probably more expensive than his own truck and waited, but not for long. 

“Miss Sovereign” he grinned as the door opened. “Long time no see”. She was wearing a pencil skirt and a green blazer and carrying a brown designer bag. Her blond hair was tied up neatly, her make-up was perfect, and Yondu wondered how many high heels shoes with a red bottom could that woman own. 

Yet he had came to appreciate her subtle changes and he noticed right away that she hadn't took off her dark glasses, and her lips where drawn in a hard line. She was already pissed off. 

“Mr Udonta.” She said and nodded to his direction, sounding somewhat tired. 

In the meantime Michelle had greeted her and while holding a glass of water and some pills, went to inform that the “responsible adults” had arrived.

Principal Rael was a very elegant woman, with a certain flair for the dramatics that she always expressed through her tall hairdos. Unlike Ayesha, who exuded the coldness of a statue, Irani Rael had an impassiveness that made her appear cold, but disguised instead a kind side, willing to listen to anybody who needed her and ready to help those in need. 

“Good morning Miss Sovereign, Mr Udonta. Please, have a seat.” Rael said and proceed to take a pill and a glass of water.

“So, yer trying to prevent the headache before the start?” Joked Yondu, with a half grin. 

“In more than one front, one could say, I´m doing a preventive work. Unlike all the others times I had called you to meet me, I want to talk you about not a thing that has already happened, but about the future. In three weeks, your children are going on a field trip, and let me tell you, I take great pride in the activities that this school has to offer, we try to foster in our pupils the respect for others, encourage team-work and install in the mind of out students the notion that everybody should be given the chance to show their talents and express themselves. I know that it sounds cliché but I do believe your children are capable to use their talents for the greater good and not just for pettiness. But my patience is running low, and I don´t care about how you Miss Sovereign, think that your brothers can do no wrong, they are entitled and think themselves above everybody else. And no, I know that Peter and Rocket are not the first children they bully, it's just that they are the ones that are willing to fight back.” She said while looking sternly at Ayesha, who for once seemed willing to listen instead of looking mortified and insulted. 

“And you, I hope that you understand that I know what the boys had to gone through. I know that they are good kids, but they have to stop behaving as if the world is out to get them.” She said with a little more empathy towards Yondu.

“But let me tell you this, I know from good sources that your brothers and your kids have been planning to use this trip to get to each others throats, and I just won´t have it. If one of them misbehaves, the four of them are going to be expelled. This is the last chance I´m giving you.” 

Yondu and Ayesha knew that principal Rael was being absolutely serious.

“With all due respect principal, you can't blame my boys for defending themselves.” Said Yondu. 

“No, but I can blame them for retaliating instead of just coming to me.” 

At this point Yondu was almost yelling. “Coming to you? Principal, we all know that her family could buy this school and that the school council will do nothing to her precious brothers. My boys ain´t that lucky.” Yondu knew that it was almost impossible for Zylak and Ben to get expelled, but he didn't want Peter and Rocket to lose the chances that graduating from Xander High school could bring them. 

“I understand. I will talk to my brothers.” Said Ayesha, standing up. She took off her glasses, and look straight to principal Rael. “I assure you, they won´t give you anymore troubles.” 

Yondu and Rael looked at her dumbfounded.

“That's it? Finally you ´re going to do something about it?” Yondu looked at her incredulous.

She ignored him, feeling the whole red of his gaze falling upon her.

“Is that all? I'm a very busy woman.” 

“Sure thing sugar, those nails ain´t gonna do themselves. Oh right, you have people for that.” Mocked Yondu.

She cocked her head and regarded him with an apprising look. “I am not going to fall for your provocations, Mr Udonta.” 

“Miss Sovereign, yes that would be all.” Answered Rael still surprised. 

“Then I should be going, I will talk to my brothers tonight. Have a good day principal” And just like that she went out of the room.

“You really think she's going to put an end to this?” Asked Yondu. 

“If she doesn't, and if you don´t, then I will.” Was Rael´s response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and all of you that left kudos!
> 
> Comments are always welcome!


	3. Chapter 3

“So?” asked, Peter.  
“So?” answered, Yondu.  
“Don’t you have anything to tell us?” Pressed, Peter.  
“Why? Do you have anything to tell me?” 

“Why were you at the school today? We didn’t do anything this time. I mean, we never do anything at school. Well, yes we go to study... to the school, but why were you there?” 

“Dude!” said Peter looking accusingly at Rocket.

“Look, I get it, you’re trying to play some James Bond game to see what he knows, but I don’t care how subtle you want to be. I just want to know what happened, the suspense is killing me.” 

“I am Groot?”.

“See he also wants to know!” exclaimed Rocket pointing at Groot.  
Little Groot. He was only a baby when Meredith died and now three years later, he couldn’t say anything else but “I am Groot”. Yondu had consulted with specialists and nothing seemed to be out of place or wrong, he understood a lot for a child of his age, but for some reason still refused to say any other thing than “I am Groot”. Yondu hoped that he could at least make some improvements this year, therapy was expensive, but he only cared about helping his child. And yet, he had the most uncanny way to make others understand what he wanted to express, especially Rocket.

“Boys. You´ve been plannin’ something special, don’t ya? For yer little camping trip?” Yondu´s voice was somewhere in between a menacing threat and a funny joke. The problem, the boys knew, was that every time he used that tone the joke was on them.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Said Peter and with a smile, Yondu thought for the tenth time that month alone that one day he was going to take his son to Las Vegas, and he was going to sign him up in as many poker tournaments as he could find. Peter was the only one in the family that could look straight into Yondu’s penetrating stare without flinching, not a small accomplishment at all. The fact that Yondu could see through him like no other was another story altogether.

“Fine, let’s cut the crap. What do you know?” Said a resigned Rocket.

“Rael told me that she knew, from I don’t know what kind of source, that you were planin’ to do something against the Sovereign kids. And she also knew that they were doin’ the same. Well, I want you to stop whatever you think you were goin’ to do. Otherwise, she´s goin’ to expel the four of ya’ or so she says.”

“What? Who told her? Wait, what do you mean they were planning to do something to us? I knew it!” In less than a minute Rocket had gone through denial and anger and now he was firmly installed in an outraged resignation. Of course Zylak and Ben were going to take the opportunity to do something stupid. That only proved his point, the Sovereigns were arrogant idiots and a couple of bullies...and they deserved every single counter-attack his creative, yet resentful mind could device. Even some preventive ones. 

“Did she say that the four of us would be expelled?” Peter asked looking suspicious, the Sovereigns pretty much owned the town, and the state, it didn’t seem like the right choice for principal Rael to go against such a powerful family.

“That’s what she said.” 

Rael had actually been one of the best influences for the family during the last three years. Rocket had gotten the scholarship to attend such a prestigious school only months before Meredith’s death, and after that, he had fallen into a dark place, in truth they all have. Rocket would never forget how the Sovereign kids teased him for his sadness, for his clothes, and for everything they could think of. He had ended up almost breaking Zylak’s nose the day he finally snapped and decided that he didn’t care at all about the whole “don’t fall to their level” shit. If he was going to fall into anything, he was going to drag down those idiots with him, kicking and screaming. Of course, he ended in principal’s Rael office, but instead of simply admonishing him, Irani Rael had told him that he had a great future in front of him, that he was strong and resilient and that she had faith in him and in his resourcefulness.

“You know what is so great about your talent to build things?” She had asked him, with a soft gleam in her eyes.  
“What?”  
“That the best thing you can create with it, it´s a future. Make it a great one.”

Truth be told, Rael thought she was helping him channeling his inner turmoil towards more productive endeavors. Instead Rocket decided it was a calling for use his skills and natural talent to help himself and make shit rain over people that pissed him, namely the Sovereign brothers. But he did leave the fist-fights for Peter and limit himself to the use of gadgets, hacking and a bit of chemistry...really smelly chemistry.

But that wasn’t the last of Rael’s influence, she had recommended Yondu the specialists to treat little Groot, and had helped Peter too. If they were, to be honest, she mostly took their side, and even though she tried to reason with them, she acknowledged that ninety-nine per cent of the times, Zylak, Ben or someone clearly sent by them was the person responsible for initiating troubles.

“Listen. -said Yondu pinching his nose- I don’t know what you were going to do, but I can tell you this, she was serious about it. So I need you to cut this crap. Their sister told us that she understood and that tonight was going to talk with her brothers.”

That alone got him stares from everybody at the table. 

“No fight? No excuses, no screaming? Unbelievable.” Said Rocket, his eyes big as saucers.

Even Kraglin who has been silent during the whole supper was about to ask if the end of the world was coming and how come nobody had seen horsemen in the skies.

“No, but she looked so tired. I know when she’s pissed, after all these years. She usually arrives pretty calm and then we exchange a few words and, damn! But today it was as she already came in mad as hell, and not even at me. I think...I think she’s so tired of this crap that probably she’ll ask those two brats of hers to put an end to it.”

“I still don’t buy it.” Insisted Rocket.

“Yeah, besides after all this time, trying to put limits on those two is going to be as useful as trying to cure a severed head using a band-aid.” Added Kraglin.

“Hey, how come you’ve been so quite all day?” Asked Peter.

“I´m trying to save as much energy as I can for tomorrow.” Replied Kraglin, feeling tired already.

“What for?” Asked Rocket, but Peter had already seen the grin forming slowly on Yondu’s face and knew there were more bad news around the corner.

“Oh yes, boys, I almost forget to tell ya’ll. Remember that little incident with the stink bomb? Well, it turns out...”

It was going to be a long weekend.

 

On the other side of town, Ayesha wasn´t having a pleasant evening at all.

Zylak was yelling at her, Ben was sulking and she was trying hard to keep her own rage in check.

They were still having dinner when she told her brothers in no uncertain terms that they were going to stay as far away as possible from the Udonta boys for the rest of the school year, otherwise, they would be expelled. 

For a moment she thought with longing about the old days when her brothers were little, adorable and more malleable. Malleable? The little creaks of doubt were getting bigger and bigger. Yes her brothers had been adorable once, but have they ever been docile? How come her parents had put up with so much trouble? This year had by far been the worst, by principal Rael had told her that this was only last link of a chain of pranks and fights. 

“It’s their fault! Look you say so yourself those backwater assholes shouldn’t even be at our school!” Screamed Zylak, slamming his fist against the table.

A year ago she may not have noticed that tone, that “ours” that sounded so natural, but now was ringing all the wrongs bells in Ayesha’s head. 

“Language, Zylak”. She was nursing the mother of all headaches

“He is right, you know?” Added Ben, looking miserably offended.  
“Those were your words. Besides, it´s not like we´re going to get expelled.”

Even though Zylak was more prone to tantrums than his younger brother, Ben could be even more exasperating. He stated facts in a way that appeared to be polite, with a hint of superiority, right enough to make people uncomfortable and precisely to make them feel like idiots if they ever pointed out that he was being anything other than reasonable.

“Listen. I don’t care who began this or when. But I have responsibilities, I need to take care of the company, wich is fine, that’s my job, but on top of that you can’t expect me to leave everything behind just because you can´t handle your problems, even worst, you can’t expect me to abandon a meeting simply because you don’t know when to stop your silly games.” Despite how bad she felt, her tone was calm and cold.

“Mom and dad always say that we have to be together if one of us is disrespected, all of us are disrespected,” Ben said, thinking that he was honoring a family tradition. But Ayesha thought he looked more like a proudful parrot expecting a cookie. 

“I know what our parents say – and she fixed both of her brothers with a stern look- I have been listening to them long before you were born. They also tell us that we need to set an example, that we are better.” But a little voice was nagging her, right at the back of her mind...better than who?

“So… that’s it? We ignore them and they ignore us?” Ben’s voice sounded doubtful, but at least Ayesha saw that her trick to appeal to the family’s sense of superiority was useful.

“That’s all I ask of you.”

Without saying a single word, Zylak stormed out of the room. Ayesha made no move to reach for him, instead cocked her head and asked Ben what he was going to do.

“I’m going to be the mature one of course. Now, what’s for dessert?”

Ben was trying to manipulate her, she could see through him, and his pyrite smile. She decided to let him go easy since she wasn’t in the mood to call him out, and they had some splendid creme caramel.

 

Later that night, alone in her bedroom, Ayesha checked through her emails. There was a certain tab in her browser that she had not closed for weeks, with a certain picture she felt a compulsion to look at before sleeping. The first time she had entered that website, she told herself it was just to see what sort of thing was a wrecker service because she could easily imagined Yondu Udonta causing a wreck instead of solving anything, the second time she acknowledged that the website was nicely done and they all seemed very professional, even though she wasn’t going to admit that ever.  
The third time she thought that the crimson uniforms they wore, were actually well designed, and Yondu’s jacket suited him in a nice way. It was only after the fifth or sixth time she realized that in her mind she had been calling Yondu, instead of the cold “Mr. Udonta” she had always used in his presence. And that night she was finally coming to terms with the fact that his angular face, crossed with lines and hardships was very masculine and attractive. She was too sleepy and tired in the end to see a problem with her reasoning, and when she finally closed her laptop and went to sleep, she drifted thinking about a thin pair of lips, a heavy set of hands dripping heavy blue on her and a garnet gaze, thick and hot as blood.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I just want to say thanks to all the people that left kudos and comments, you have no idea how happy you´ve made me.  
> And second, I wanted to tell you that the descriptions of some of the characters are a mix of how they look in the comics, how were portrayed in the movies and how their actors look like.  
> And finally, I wanted to tell you that I'll be updating once a week on Tuesdays, unless I have more time and then I may add some bonus chapter.

“Gotta cancel the plans talk to u later”

 

“Who’s that darling? One of your friends?”

 

Gamora was looking at her cellphone, just about to ask Peter what had they done this time when her mother’s voice took her out of her thoughts. She was wearing her black apron, decorated with gray and red sugar skulls, and had matching cooking gloves.

 

“It’s Peter, he says he´s canceling our game.”

 

As she typed, her mother began to serve breakfast. Truth be told, her family was basically split into two groups, morning people and “what the hell is that light coming from the window” people. Gamora and her father were in the first group and her mother and sister were in the later. But there was one single exception to that rule, every Saturday her mother made blackberry pancakes for breakfast, sometimes she added different pastries, but the pancakes were always the main event. The family would sit together, eat and chat about their week, the tradition had begun the same day the girls were adopted and blackberry pancakes were the first homemade meal her mother had made for them. 

 

“So, are we going or not?” Asked Nebula, taking a sit right next to her sister. They were both so different and so alike, they shared a certain aloofness, a strong will and sense of determination, but whereas Gamora was quicker to laugh, Nebula was more serious. People usually said that Gamora took more after their father and Nebula after their mother, and none of them really knew what to think about that. 

Even though they were both in excellent shape, courtesy of their father who had made them try differents sports and martial arts, Gamora was the one that had taken a more competitive route, she was in love with fencing and her efforts in that sport had paid well, she was the captain of the school team and had several trophies on her shelves. Nebula on the other hand, even though quite athletic, wanted to be an artist like her mother and they shared similar tastes and influences, but they expressed them differently, her mother had retained her gothic style even through the years (and Gamora could easily imagine her mother wearing dark dresses riveted with lace and a killer eye line well into retirement) but Nebula was more into metal than fabrics, and her style was a Gigeresque sort of cyberpunk.

 

 

“So, girls, any plans for today?” their father said as he arrived at the kitchen. 

He gave his wife a kiss and began putting syrup on his pancakes. He was an incredibly tall man, and everything about him seemed made of strong angles, his plump lips the only exception. But what really stood up about him, even more than his incredible built was his light-blue eyes that shone against his dark skin, his team-mates even swore that he was capable of making them glow in the most unnatural and cold way, like blades in the moonlight. But for his wife, those pools of fear were like calming waters, he never failed to look at her in deep adoration, he had declared himself an acolyte to her raven hair, a humble servant of her crepuscular eyes and the hierophant of his somber goddess. Of course, his daughters thought he was usually too corny and from time to time even a bit creepy, but he was convinced that he was simply a man madly in love, and besides weren’t all teenagers supposed to think, at least in some measure, that their parents were insane?

 

“Peter canceled.” Sighed Gamora.

“What did those losers do now?” Nebula didn’t even take her eyes from the pancakes while asking. 

“Don’t call them that! They´re your friends too.” Protested Gamora.

“But they did something. Right? Besides they were your friends first.” Insisted Nebula.

“Yes, probably. Just don’t call them losers.” Conceded her sister.

“Anyway, it’s not really bad news. Ronan told me last night he wasn’t gonna make it.”

“Wait, you were serious? Ronan is coming?” Gamora couldn’t believe it.

“Was coming.”

“What was is it that you were going to do again?” 

“Nothing big dad, you see Rocket have been wanting to play Dungeons and Dragons for over a year, but he couldn’t find anybody else to play besides Kraglin and Peter, so when Peter told me, I said yes, and invited Nebula...” started Gamora.

“And I told her I’d go if I could bring Ronan with me” finished Nebula.

 

“I thought you were joking! You know, Ronan is not really a people person, besides I can’t really imagine someone like him playing D&D.”

 

“Is it because he’s a football player?”, frowned Nebula. 

 

“No! Is because he is...well you know how he is.”

 

Ronan had a solemnity that made even Nebula look like a clown high on laughing gas, he was the main star of the Kree Highschool’s football team, Xandar’s old time rivals. The boy had a furious determination and was almost a zealot of his sport, yes he was a sight to behold, strong, good-looking and imposing but in the same way, a stormy sea was a sight to behold, from as far away as possible.

Gamora never understood what exactly was that her sister saw in him, she suspected it was a combination of several things, like dissuading that idiot Zylak, bothering their father and just pissing people off at school.

 

Right at the moment when Thanos was about to say something about how in his times RPG’s were nerd entertainment, his wife took the opportunity to intervene before her daughters began to argue again.

 

“Well, this brings back some memories. I never played D&D, but in college, I loved ‘Vampire: The Masquerade’, we had so much fun. I don’t think board games or RPG’s are just meant to be for a certain group of people. What’s more, I think it’s great for you two to try something new. Don’t you think so dear?”

 

Gamora and Nebula could see their father backtracking in his mind with the speed of a desperate cheetah. “Certainly darling,” he said and nodded.

 

 

“So, anyway, Ronan was going to come, but he sent me a text last night to tell me he wasn’t gonna make it, but he is free next weekend. You can tell Peter that.” Added Nebula, going for the third pancake.

 

“Fine, I´ll tell him, but he still hasn´t answered the first one I sent.”

 

“And when is this boy finally asking you out?” 

 

“Dad! It’s not like that, we are friends!” His daughter’s denial was a little too vehement.

 

“Wasn’t he dating that girl Beth..Bethany…?” Added Nebula. 

 

“Bereet. Was. Last month. Nice girl though.” 

 

Nebula smiled slightly, she could feel the jealousy coming from her sister, loud and clear. She guessed that there was a good reason behind those two still being friends, they cared too much for each other to risk that friendship. But she was willing to bet that sooner than later they were going to come to terms with their feelings. In the meantime, anyhow, they were fun to be around.

 

“Just remember that he has to come talk to me first.” Gamora saw a glint in her father’s eyes and resigned herself.

 

“Sure thing dad, so you can scare him as you do with Ronan.”

 

“That boy doesn’t have enough common sense to know when he should be scared”, puffed Thanos.

Their relationship was weirder than “father-in-law scares the shit out his son-in-law”, Ronan looked up to him, and no amount of intimidation or condescending comments could stop that. As much as Gamora suspected that her sister was with Ronan just to bother people, she firmly believed that Ronan was with her because the idea of being related to The Titan Thanos was one of the few things that could make that guy enthusiastic.

“Mom! They are at it again! Seriously what is wrong with you two?” 

“Nothing is wrong with us Nebs. But Ronan...we could make you a list.”

“I don’t think we have that much paper.” 

“Good point dad, yet...”

 

The rest of the breakfast went down like that, and once it was finished Gamora went to call Peter.

 

“Hey, Gamora, listen I can’t talk right now, I’m sorry for canceling.”

“But you’re alright? What happened last Friday?”

 

“Boy, more work and less talkin'!” 

 

Gamora could hear Yondu’s voice barking in the distance. 

“I’ll text you tonight!”

“Well at least he’s still alive.” Gamora thought. 

 

 

 

 

“Can’t spend one day without talking to yer girlfriend?” grinned Yondu.

 

“Look she was just worried because I canceled our plans and didn’t tell her why.”

 

Peter went on to polish the truck, and after only a couple of minutes talked again.

 

“And Gamora is not my girlfriend.”

 

They had known each other for years, those two. They were inseparable, Peter never missed one of her matches, and Yondu knew she had helped him before and was involved in many of the pranks his kids had pulled out against the Sovereign brothers. She was usually the voice of reason and sometimes he suspected that was one of the reasons his son had never asked her out. Peter loved parties and dancing, and every single girl he had ever dated, all of them were party girls, they were the kind of girls you took out and maybe even introduce to the family, but Gamora was the kind of person you would take to a war. He had seen her in action once, a rare occasion when he decided to go with the boys to see their friend in a school match, in the end when she took out her mask he saw exactly what he was waiting for, a look of hunger and ferocity that rivaled the one his father had held during the whole thing. And Peter, Peter had been looking at her adoringly, Yondu had never seen Peter looking at anyone like that, and never did he see it again, Peter’s green eyes were shining with pride and love, her triumph was as if it were his, and every time Gamora flexed and moved, Peter twitched as if she was moving him through a secret connection. He thought with fondness that his son was growing, and with sadness that Meredith wasn’t there to see him. A couple of years had passed since that moment, and still, Peter gazed at Gamora with lovesick eyes. Their attraction was quite evident for those close to them, even a source for fun for Kraglin and Rocket since they have an ongoing bet to see when they were finally going to go on a date. 

 

“You know, what Peter needs is a girl that can move to his rhythm, get yourself a girlfriend that can dance!” Drax added, he was just coming from an assignment when he saw Rocket, Kraglin, and Peter cleaning the vehicles left in the yard. 

Yondu had even added his own truck to the bargain, so Drax knew that probably they had done a pretty big thing this time. 

 

“What he needs is to keep on polishin’ that hood.” Said Yondu, thinking that one day Peter would see that Gamora had her own kind of dance, she may not be the kind of girl that knew every single club in town, but she definitely had her own swing.

 

Yondu proceeded to tell his friend what had happened the day before, and how the boys had ended up getting a retroactive punishment. Rocket said that he wasn’t talking to Kraglin, a.k.a that “blabbering idiot” and Peter was hoping that the smell from the car wax would let him unconscious because, for someone who claimed he was giving some serious cold shoulder treatment, Rocket was way too talkative. And of course, Kraglin was answering every single provocation. And of course, Yondu and Drax were chatting about his dating life.

 

“Boss! We have a job, and you´re not gonna believe this one! You’ ll want to take this one, no doubt.”

Gef had came out of the office, followed by Tulk who was carrying little Groot on his shoulders and grinning like a mad man.

 

“What is it Gef? This better be good.” Rasped Yondu.

 

Gef told them, and he was right, Yondu was going to take this job, and his boys were asking him to take them with him. Rocket wanted to go and take pictures, Kraglin was laughing at the details and Peter told him that he´ll clean and polish whatever thing necessary for a month, but he wanted to be the one to go with him.

 

In the end, Yondu took Tulk with him but promised the boys he was going to find out exactly what had happened. He had been really glad when his company got the contract for the impounds and motor vehicle accidents in the area, but he never expected to see the day when he would have to tow a silver Mercedes Benz, that matched exactly with the one owned by no other than Ayesha Sovereign.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay guys!  
> I hope you enjoy this chapter, as always comments and kudos are deeply appreciated!

Ayesha woke up feeling tired already. She needed more sleep, more rest and overall more patience to deal with her family. She glanced at her clock and decided that she wasn’t even going to take a look at her muted cellphone, she went right into her bathroom and straight into the shower.  
  
She didn’t want to think about the dream she had the night before, usually her dreams, the rare times she could remember them, were colourful and psychodelic. But this one was different, she was on a golden beach, and she was almost blending with it, she felt a strange sensation like something in between safety and disconfort. In that apparent calm, she failed to notice a huge cobalt tide that came crashing towards her and precipitated to the depths of an all-blue ocean. The water seemed to be made of  hands that felt like sand against her skin, but instead of leaving her sore, she got the feeling that they were cleasing her in a rough, albeit necessary way. But she needed air, and those same limbs propulsed her to the surface, and the wind in her lungs felt like a piercing ruby, she remembered, still trying to forget it.  
  
It was Saturday and she decided, and still too early to be worried about anything. She washed her hair and took a bath without thinking about anything, in particular, getting out all the troublesome thoughts, and used a  honey and oatmeal soap that she especially liked. She had brought a big batch of it from France, from one of her trips to Provence, it made her feel indolent and calm, unlike other more sharp scents, the costly perfums she donned for for work, important meetings and family gatherings.  
  
Maybe she could have a nice relaxing afternoon at the spa, she would call Hannah and told her to come, of course, she didn’t feel the need to make an appointment, there was no way she could be denied.  
  
She dried her hair, put on an ivory silk robe and went downstairs, she was going to enjoy a warm cup of rooibos and then call Hannah to have brunch with her, afterwards they would take delight in some nice and well-deserved treatments, yes this was going to be a pleasant day, just what she needed.  
  
She was descending the stairs when she saw her favorite cousin and assistant-extraordinaire enter the door with a wary expression.  
  
“There you are, why weren’t you answering your phone?”  
  
Hannah Chambers was almost as tall as her cousin and they did share a certain resemblance. They both have high cheeks and full lips, a common combination in the Sovereign family, but her pale-caramel skin and light-brown hair made her stand up among the others. Her mother had once been the rebel of the clan that got married to, in her own mother’s words, that “shameless arriviste".  
They had never forgiven her for her choice of a husband, a young man of humble origins from a hard-working family, he didn’t have any connections, and they never believe he could be anything but a parasite to her. Even years later, they treated him with coldness, it didn’t matter that he had turned into one of the most successful lawyers in the state and that they were indeed quite happy in their marriage. No, they thought that it wasn’t hard work what was behind his well-earned prosperity, it was simply that he had gotten himself a powerful and well connected wife, and when they couldn’t blame her for his good fortune, they still choose to believe that he had just been lucky enough to be at the right moment at the right place.  
Despite that, the rest of the family had never had many troubles with their kids, Hannah had a brother that was living abroad and she had always been very close to Ayesha, they were more like sisters than cousins, and Ayesha had taken her to work with her because she knew that her gold rose Hannah was diligent, resourceful and had a way to dealt with people much more polite and diplomatic than the rest of the family, even more than hers.  
  
“What happened?” asked Ayesha, already dreading the answer.  
  
“Zylak is fine, that’s the first thing you have to know, but he’s at the police station.”  
  
Hannah could see embers lightning in her cousin’s eyes, but instead of saying anything, Ayesha urged her to keep talking with a gesture.  
  
“He called me an hour ago, he didn’t want me to tell you and he was hoping that I could cover his mess without ‘upseting you for no big reason’”.  
Ayesha cocked an eyebrow. “Those were his words”. It wasn’t a question.  
  
“Exactly, well you see, for what I could gather he got drunk last night with some of his friends and...”  
  
Ayesha cut her in the middle of it. “Listen, you’ll tell me the rest on our way to the station, let me change clothes and grab my keys and we’ll be going.”  
  
“You can’t,  Zylak got your keys last night and took your car. Apparently he wanted to impress a girl at the club, a girl that didn’t even went out last night or so he told me...”  
  
The rest of the story went in a blur for Ayesha. Her brother in an attempt to win the attention of a girl and probably in one the most stupidest ways to ask for attention in general that she had ever seen, had taken, not his own car but hers and in a confused episode had managed to get it towed away.  
  
Ayesha ran upstairs, put on a pair of light-blue jeans and a simple t-shirt, a comfy pair of boots and grab her phone. She dialed the family lawyer and told her to meet her at the police station on her way down; as an assistant, Hannah thought it was the sensible thing to do, but as her cousin and best friend she firmly believe that Ayesha simply wanted a lawyer nearby in case she finally strangle her brother.  
  
They took Hannah’s car and soon were in front of the station, the lawyer was already there, but Zylak couldn’t be released until the person in charge come to pick him.  
  
It wasn’t the first time Carl Broker had to work quickly and discretely for the Sovereign family, but he was surprised by the way Ayesha was behaving. He suspected that if the adults in charge had been her parents, they would have insisted on him bringing Zylak home and would have straight refused to set foot in the station. In turn, Ayesha acted as if she had nothing to be ashamed for, safe for her informal clothes, she looked like she was ready for a business meeting and not about pick her underage brother from jail.  
She greeted him when everything was finished and took her brother to the car. Broker saw Zylak went meekly behind his sister, who had already greeted with a “we’ll talk later look” and hadn’t said a word to him. He saw them leaving after saying his good-byes and thought for a moment that the little girl he had known for so many years had became a woman, a serious person that was willing to face a lot of things for the sake of her family, but he doubted that those little boys could understand they have to become grown-ups if they ever wanted to be there for their sister when she’ll need them, but somehow doubted they could be up to the task. Even with the faithful Hannah by her side, Broker thought that the golden Sovereign throne that  was clearly reserved for a Ayesha must be a very cold and lonely place.  
  
  
Hannah was driving and in the backseat, Zylak was moving, Ayesha was silent as a stone and the air felt heavy.  
  
“I...” began Zylak.  
  
“I’ don’t want to hear you. This is the first and last time I’m taking you out of a situation like this one. We’ll talk later when I’m ready to listen to your excuses, and I know there’ll be plenty of them. You’re going to say that there was a problem with your car and so you have to take mine, and though you’ll have a little fun and it would be no big deal. Then you’ll tell me that you didn’t know what you were drinking because clearly, you’ve never had a drop of alcohol in your life and that you didn’t initiate any sort of trouble. And the car? Well, all the trouble you didn’t begin in the first place didn’t make you park it in a place where it shouldn’t be and then you didn’t forget about it until it was too late, and of course you didn’t make any scene in public screaming that you were a Sovereign and that your family runs this town. And no police-officer had to come and tell you to be  quiet because it were the other ones that were disturbing the peace, not you, you just were in the wrong place at the wrong time and all this it’s just one being a misunderstanding. Right?”  
Ayesha’s tone was cold and while she spoke she wasn’t even looking at her brother, not until the very end when she fixed her eyes in the rear-view mirror and saw him gaping at her in disbelief.  
  
Zylak shut his mouth and turned very pale. Where was his commanding and protective big sister? Who was this person, that apparently possessed some sort of telepathic power?  
  
They drove in silence until they arrived at the mansion, and once inside Ayesha told Zylak to go to his room, he wasn’t going to leave the house unless she told him so. She was disregarding him, but instead of feeling insulted he felt disoriented, surely this was just a one time thing, later she would be more sympathetic, later, after she got her precious car she would be calmer...and then he realized something  and quickly went away. If he wasn’t mistaken, if now his sister was cold and showing her fangs, later she was going to fume and maybe even bite him, for he knew where her car was and Zylak was positive she still hadn’t taken notice of that fact.  
  
“Hannah, so… would you like to go and fetch your car?” offered Hannah.  
  
“Huh? Yes, please. You take care of that. Listen I’m going to go and have some tea and aspirin.” Said Ayesha rubbing her templates and headed to her home-office.  
  
Hannah took a look at the papers she needed to get the car back, she dialed a number on her phone and told the man on the other side that she needed to go and pick a car, he asked for details and then she could hear some ruffling in the background.  
  
“Hello?” She said tentatively.  
  
A raspy and deep voice, unlike the one from before, answered this time.  
  
“Hello miss, let me guess, you’re not the owner of this particular car, aren’t ya?”  
  
Hannah had a bad feeling and inmediately knew who was on the other side. Even though she had never met the man in person, she had heard enough from her cousin to know who he was.  
  
“I’m not. Is that a problem? Wait, how do you know I am not the owner”  
  
“Easy. I know the woman that drives this car and your voice ain’t hers. But you see, we required the owner to come and pick up the vehicle, so you tell your friend or boss or whatever she is to you, that she has to come herself.”  
  
Hannah wanted to ask how could he know her cousin´s voice so well, but decided that after so many months screaming at each other, they could probably identify each other's voices even inside of a raging stadium.  
  
“Is there no other way?” she tried.  
  
“Oh, darlin’ do you expect us to tow it back to your house with a big gold ribbon?” He laughed and it sounded like sand in her ears.  
  
“Fine, I’ll tell her.” She conceded, only because she wanted to put this mess behind.  
  
“Alright, darlin’ we shall be expectin’ her golden majesty. Have a good day.”  
  
Hannah looked at her phone, there was no way only the owner could pick up a vehicle, probably that idiot was just playing to get her cousin mad. But anyway, she went to tell her so. She found Ayesha nursing a warm cup of tea in her chair in front of her desk.  
  
“Ayesha, your car...well you are the owner so apparently you have to go and pick it up yourself.”  
  
“Can’t you do  it?”  Ayesha frowned.  
  
“Well, I’ve just spoken to the wrecker service and no, you have to go.”  
  
“Fine. We’ll go now. Where is this place?”  
  
Hannah told her the address and saw her cousin getting a bit red in the face.  
  
“The Eclector wrecker service?” There was a strain in her voice.  
  
Ayesha paused for a second, popped another aspirin and took a deep gulp at her tea. She raised determined and said, “let’s go”.  
  
On the other side of town, a group of men was laughing real hard, Ayesha knew, and for a brief moment, she thought she could hear a particular sound, a guffaw with the texture of red sandpaper.

**Author's Note:**

> I really don´t know what to say. Or maybe yes, any betas out there?
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
